A Different Place

Web marketers who rely on Google Place pages to promote their local businesses have undoubtedly noticed some changes by now, and more are on the way. Google has revamped its Place pages to emphasize reviews from Google users, no longer showing external reviews from third-party sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor — though links to those sites are provided. Google has also removed the review snippets and citations to other websites that have referenced a business, which will have a significant impact on local SEO campaigns. Forthcoming changes will include increased personalization of local search results and additional upgrades to Place pages on other Google platforms across different devices.